Memories of Ceefax

Memories of Ceefax.

Prompted by this article from the BBC on the demise of Ceefax as part of the switchover from analogue to digital television :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17745100

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Watching Sport on Ceefax

I went to university in 1990 and was introduced to the concept of watching sport on Ceefax almost immediately.  Final Score didn't provide sufficient updates for my best mate's home team, Linfield, so he'd have Ceefax on with the rotating page for Northern Irish football scores displayed throughout the afternoon accompanied by audio from Grandstand.  I've used the technique ever since to follow Welsh premier league rugby while English television broadcasts whatever.

It has to be said that the modern Digitext system doesn't work well with this application - it doesn't update anywhere near quickly enough and is much more kludgey in terms of operation.


The Christmas Tree

Corny as... well everything to do with Christmas when I come to think of it, the special page designed to wish Merry Christmas - usually consisting of some form of Christmas Tree rendered in a 40-column x 24-row blocks of 2 x 3 contiguous graphic squares, with flashing yellow asterisks to indicate fairy lights.  (I had a BBC Model B in the 1980s and learned a lot about the teletext standard as provided by it's "Mode 7" screen layout).


Downloading Software

Actually being able to get computer programs from the BBC, to accompany the "Micro Direct" TV series or other initiatives. You needed an Acorn/BBC computer and a teletext adaptor.  The magic of getting a new program from across the airwaves loaded onto your computer and then saving it to tape before running it, was magical.  Now I'll use the internet to connect to GitHub or SourceForge or whatever, but back in the 1980s it was a really remarkable thing to do.


Subtitles - 888 and - 889

I can just about remember subtitles not being on page 888 - though can't be sure what number page they were on.  ITV and BBC had different standards, but the push to consolidate around page 888 was a massive step forward.  My mum would have them on and sing along to Songs of Praise.  She still does this - and now with the equally as good Digitext subtitles (one place where Digitext is the equal of Ceefax).

Then came two major leaps forward: live subtitles for the news.  Delayed by only a few seconds (if that), the ability to read the text of what has been said by the newsreader (or a close paraphrase of that text) may be one of the best things Ceefax has given us.  And it's not just the deaf and hard-of-hearing who benefit - company foyers up and down the country typically have a television on, showing the BBC News channel, with the sound off and the subtitles on.  While waiting for a meeting you can "read" the news.

The second came when S4C started to use 888 as their "Transl-888" service.  English subtitles for Welsh-language programmes on 888, Welsh-language subtitles on page 889.  Now I could watch Pobol Y Cwm and understand what was being said.


And finally, "Bamboozle"

Channel 4's daily quiz, hosted by the rather jaundiced or Simpsons-esque, yellow-faced "Bamber Boozler" (or occasionally his nephew) was a great innovation in the use of teletext.  10 questions each day, with 4 multiple choice answers, selected using the coloured "Fastext" buttons.